Oil Pressure Getting Close To 0

[manage13]

Hi everyone,

I did a quick search for “oil pressure” but as I am posting under major panic I didn’t come across anything that was relevant to my problem.

As I am currently running my motor in (trying to clock up 500km) I have notice oil pressure drop. I realize that a bit of drop is ok but today when I was at the lights I noticed that the pressure was getting awfully close to 0 on my oil pressure gauge and kept hovering below 2. As I pulled into my driveway I notice the gauge went right down to 0. I quickly switched the engine off to prevent any damage.

My question to the general populus here in FI section is: Is this a normal occurrence? Can anyone hazard a guess to what the problem might be?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[WazR32GTSt]

is the "low oil pressure light" on?

get an aftermarket gauge.. 1/100th of the price of a new engine

[SECURITY]

before you do anything else, get yourself a new oil pressure sender unit.

[manage13]

is the "low oil pressure light" on?

No light isn't on.

get an aftermarket gauge.. 1/100th of the price of a new engine

You are right; I'm going to look in to getting one now

before you do anything else, get yourself a new oil pressure sender unit.

Do you believe my sender could be shot? If so I’ll get one from Nissan.

[SECURITY]

Do you believe my sender could be shot? If so I’ll get one from Nissan.

if its an r32 then it very well could be.

it seems to be a common problem with them.

and as Waz has stated, getting an aftermarket gauge is best (but you'll need a sandwich plate etc). so go with the new sender unit first.

[N I B]

Nissan only got reliable gauges in the last few years so dont worry to much as ive seen this problem since Datsun days and used to panic but every time i fit a master gauge find every thing is ok,check it to be safe tho.

[justin911]

try spray the sender unit with that contact cleaner stuff..

after my engine was put bak in my car i had a similar thing.. when the car was hot the oil needle would sit on like 1psi at random times. the sender unit was all oily and decrepid looking.

[WazR32GTSt]

go have a read on www.aus300zx.com in the technical pages.. they have a big writeup about changing the OPS (oil pressure sender unit)

many of them changed their unit only to have it fail again after 6 months...

my setup:

gauge (ebay) comes with sender unit - $30-60 depending on what brand

sandwich plate - $25 from justjap

i mounted it in the glovebox. still can use the stock gauge for hte oil pressure warning light (which is accurate)

plus its WAY more accurate than the stock gauge

good investment me thinks

[femno]

Yeh i had the same problem and i shit myself, on idle after driving for a long time it would drop to just above 1 on the guage but the light didnt come on which was good.

But then i used different oil and it doesnt do it anymore haha, still gets low sometimes though.

I think most 32s have shotty oil pressure guages.

BTW new engine as well with 1,000km on it. New guage is on the agenda.

[manage13]

Thanks everyone for all your help.

I purchased an Autometer oil pressure gauge that I am going to install tomorrow. I'll let you all know if it works. Just one last question though, at what PSI should my oil pressure gauge be reading at idle?

[d00dz]

When cold ive seen it around approx 70 psi at idle

When warm around approx 24-25 psi at idle

[MBS206]

Please be aware, the standard nissan oil pressure guage reads in KG/cm^2 not PSi.

[manage13]

When cold ive seen it around approx 70 psi at idle

When warm around approx 24-25 psi at idle

Thanks champ! I'll use that as a reference point

Please be aware, the standard nissan oil pressure guage reads in KG/cm^2 not PSi.

Yea, I have disconnected the standard one now and installing the Autometer which is in PSI. Thanks for the heads up though!

Cheers